Monday, January 15, 2007
Starting a New Year
I reached my all-time low weight of 122 in December but the holidays got the best of me and I found myself making excuses to indulge in holiday treats at home although I was able to avoid them at work. I started to FEEL the weight being added back on with a hint of a *tight* feeling in my new jeans. Even breakfast saw indulgences that I had been so faithfully avoiding. We discovered a fabulous Puffed Pancake recipe and made it twice during the holidays complete with full sugar homemade syrup DH had received as a Christmas gift. We did stick with LF dressings, salads, and lower fat (turkey) sausage. I had days sprinkled here and there doing some NS and NS-on-my-own meals (Fit 'n Free pizza, Boca burgers, Hebrew National FF hot dogs, etc). The outcome: 5 pounds gained. Ah well - it was about what I expected. 2 pounds came off pretty easily but I'm currently stuck between 123-125 and have yet to get back down to my original 122. My goal of 120 is still elusive.
I've started going back to the NS bulletin boards and found a pleasant surprise - the boards have been updated and have multiple categories now. I like the new boards and have been checking in on the "General", "30-year-olds", and "Fitness Challengers" boards. After reading an inspiring story about a woman who ran the Disney Marathon at the iVillage Disney Vacations message board, I decided to look into the different races going on at Disney World. The "Run for the Taste 10K" in October during the Food and Wine festival sounds perfect! I even download a training guide that promises I will be ready for a 10K in 13 weeks of training. DH and I are now registered for this 10K.
I've started running/walking on the treadmill slow and easy - a 15 minute/mile pace. I will run every other day on this training schedule and walk/cross-train every other day with my long run on Sunday and Saturdays off. This is very do-able. I ran a mile yesterday at my 15 minute/mile pace and power walked today for 20 minutes with 5 minutes of stretching and a little weight lifting (just arms). Tomorrow, I'll take the kids to the Y for their swimming lessons and I'll plan on running for 20-25 minutes.
I'm really excited not only about the upcoming 10K race but also the plans to return to one of our most favorite travel destinations and finally getting to attend the food and wine festival.
I've started going back to the NS bulletin boards and found a pleasant surprise - the boards have been updated and have multiple categories now. I like the new boards and have been checking in on the "General", "30-year-olds", and "Fitness Challengers" boards. After reading an inspiring story about a woman who ran the Disney Marathon at the iVillage Disney Vacations message board, I decided to look into the different races going on at Disney World. The "Run for the Taste 10K" in October during the Food and Wine festival sounds perfect! I even download a training guide that promises I will be ready for a 10K in 13 weeks of training. DH and I are now registered for this 10K.
I've started running/walking on the treadmill slow and easy - a 15 minute/mile pace. I will run every other day on this training schedule and walk/cross-train every other day with my long run on Sunday and Saturdays off. This is very do-able. I ran a mile yesterday at my 15 minute/mile pace and power walked today for 20 minutes with 5 minutes of stretching and a little weight lifting (just arms). Tomorrow, I'll take the kids to the Y for their swimming lessons and I'll plan on running for 20-25 minutes.
I'm really excited not only about the upcoming 10K race but also the plans to return to one of our most favorite travel destinations and finally getting to attend the food and wine festival.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Starting Nutrisystem
We made the decision to lose weight in June of 2006 and I looked into joining the Nutrisystem program after seeing the commercials on TV frequently. I was skeptical and questioned how the food would taste, whether we would be able to stick with the program, how many "extras" would we need to get, how expensive it was, and asked myself: how do you cook for yourself AND a family too? I wasn't ready to commit to Nutrisystem's (NS') autoshipment program immediately even though there were significant savings associated with autoship (free shipping, 10% discount). I read up on NS' bulletin boards and e-classes and saw that the same questions were asked over and over again: How many calories do you consume per day? What's the Yellow Book? Can you swap your meals around? What extra foods do you add in? What counts as a protein serving? What's the difference between a vegetable and a salad serving? Does adding milk to your cereal count as your protein (hands down, the question asked the MOST frequently, lol)?
I read up on posts by Jazzman and Graylady - the "old-timers" on the NS bulletin boards who are full of really great information about NS. I even posed a typical newbie question to the support bulletin board: What foods do you REALLY like? The answer? Of course, it depends on your personal tastes but I had read enough to steer clear of the Mashers and I selected foods that I THOUGHT we would like: cereals, pancakes, granola bars, chocolates, meat dishes, beef stew, etc. I had copied and pasted tons of information about how to "spice up" some of the entrees and special NS recipes using the entrees as ingredients (eg Jazzman's Bread Pudding - now one of my all-time favorites) which incorporates the muffins, a protein serving, fruit serving, and a few "free foods". I asked for and received a $15 referral coupon from a NS member that I didn't know and added that to my first order and got my promotional "free week".
I received my package in the mail and opened it with a mixture of trepidation and excitement. It took about a week after placing my order online and I could track it online so that I could make sure to run home and get the box out of the heat when it arrived. The first problem: where to put all the food??? NS foods are all shelf-stable and do not require refrigeration (except for the chocolates that sometimes melt in the summer and simply needs to be put in the fridge for a short while). We had already gone out and bought the recommendations made by the bulletin board members: fat free (FF) milk, salad dressing, veggies, fruit, Laughing Cow cheese (one of the BEST recommendations from the bulletin board), low-fat yogurt, etc. We were ready to get started.
